Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-12-15
STOPPING FORWARD.
Advice on the Subject From = Rsliab
Medical Authority,

STOPPING FORWARD.
Advice on the Subject From = Reliable
Medical Authority.
Every one knows that stopping for
ward, particularly after rising quickly
from the bed in the morning. when the
stomachis empty and the heart has less
than ordinary support from the viscera
below the diaphragm, is very apt to
occasion form Of faintness with ver-
tigo, not unlike that which occurs in
sea-sickness. We do not at the moment
speak OF the faintness and giddiness
from cerebral anamia, which are di-
rectly consequent upon suddenly assum-
ing the erect after long continuing in
the recumbent posture, but Of tho more
alarming sensation of being in the GEN.
ter OF objects which are rapidly passing
away, usually from left to right. with
loss of power to stand or even sit, and
an almost nightmare feeling Of inability
to call for help or do any thing to avert
a catastrophe, while throughout the
experience the sufferer retains pain
fully acute consciousness. This, we
say, is familiar as one at least of the
etects not uncommonly produced by
STOPPING forward under the special con-
ditions indicated. With many other
varieties of the vertigo consequent upon
heart weakness or cerebral anemia,
observation or experience has made us
all acquainted. We can not, however,
help thinking that tho consequences Of
even partial compression Of veins of the
neck, offering an obstacle to the return
OF blood from the head, with its import
ant organs, are not so we'll recognized.
The peculiar form, or, more accurately,
the several forms-of headache dis
tlnctly caused in this way when the
head is long bowed forward on the chest.
bending the neck on itself, can not fail
to occur to every one; nor will the high
tension of the eyeball, the turgid and
heavy eyelids, the snuffling nose, the
deafness, with buzzing or throbbing in
the ears. the heavy breathing and tho
puffod and perhaps flushed or darkened
color OF the face, resulting from the OBJ
structed venous circulation through tho
Bonded neck, be forgotten. There are
other and more perilous though Sec
ondary, effects of leaning forward when
the heart is weak, OF the blood-vessels
are not so strong as they ought to be,
which should not be overlooked. Beyond
question, the extra strain thrown upon
the apparatus of the circulation by any
thing that impedes the free passage Of
the blood through almost any part OF
the venous system is more severe and
dangerous than a physically equal
strain thrown on the arteries. Al
least, this is so in adult life, and, with
out going further into details in con.
nection with the modus opcrandi of the
mischief to which we point. it may bt
permissible to urge that the subject is
one to which attention may be usefully
directed. The weakly and those who
are not unlikely to have hearts read.
lily overburdened and blood-vessel.
stretched beyond recovery, or ever
ruptured, should be warned quite az
earnestly against suddenly assuming, OIL
too long retaining. any postures which
do-however slightly and partially
impede the return of blood through
the veins. We know how prolonge,
sitting may cause the veins of the leg.
to distend and either give way or per
nit the extravasation of their contents
When this sort Of thing happens, ever
though in trifing degree, in the case o
vessels directly connected with sucl
delicate organs as the eye, the ear ant
the brain, it is easy to see that the re
suits may be very serious in their char
acter; and probably few postures com
monty taken up by persons who LEAF
somewhat sedentary lives are so prom
to do mischief unnoticed as that @
leaning forward as at work at tabl
which is not sufficiently high to insur
the head being so raised that the vein
of the neck may not be in any way com
pressed OF the return of blood from tn
head embarrassed or delayed. We Sc
reason to believe that if this APPARENT
small matter were generally nnderstoo
there would be fewer head and hear
troubles, and we will 60 so far as t
say that some lives now lost would b
saved. Lancet.